MONTREAL—In a stunning deal, it was announced early Tuesday morning that Wisconsin-based Quad/Graphics, a leading U.S. printer, has arranged to acquire Montreal-based Worldcolor, formerly Quebecor World, in a deal set to close this summer.

If completed, it means Quad/Graphics would become a major player in the Canadian printing industry. The company is currently privately held, but would become a public company if the deal is closed. The controlling shareholder would be the Harry V. Quadracci family, with Worldcolor shareholders owning about 40%.

The combined company would have nearly 30,000 employees serving customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and Europe. Worldcolor and Quad/Graphics had aggregate unaudited revenues for the 12-month period ended September 30, 2009 of U.S. $5.1 billion.

In the last few weeks, Worldcolor announced it was closing its Richmond Hill, Ont. plant and moving those operations to its Aurora, Ont. plant.

For the full press release, visit Masthead's sister site PrintCan.com.